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All images ©LaFontsee Galleries. May not be reproduced without written permission.
Elaine Tolsma-Harlow • Statement
My latest still-life paintings are an exploration of profound loss, displacement, and the longing for home. I utilize the stark beauty of nature as a metaphor for feelings of fracture and isolation. Bowls and nests are left empty; their intended purpose left unfulfilled. The frustration of the eggs being separated from the nest represents our broken homes and lives. The objects within the paintings are isolated and disconnected even from the things around them. I try to achieve vastness of space within the confines of smaller paintings�a contrast to the intimacy of the tiny eggs.
These paintings are in response to the trials I have faced while going through a bone marrow transplant for the treatment of leukemia. I spent 27 days in a hospital and four months living 2000 miles away from my home and support system. I stopped functioning as a normal human-being and became a shadow of who I once was.
More recently, I have been exploring what comes after being broken. The concepts of spring and recovery are just as profound as that of loss. How do we pick up the pieces? What keeps us striving further? Where does hope come from? I am beginning to address these powerful and challenging questions. Somewhere we reach a point where we are no longer just surviving but living. Life becomes about being whole and, more importantly, holy.
Elaine Tolsma-Harlow • Biography
Education
1994
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan Life drawing class
1988-1992
Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan Bachelor of Fine Arts
Selected Exhibitions
2000
To Good Health: Artist Care, Center Art Gallery, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1999
Object of My Affection, LaFontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1999
The Timmel Collection Summer Show, The Timmel Gallery, Saugatuk, Michigan
1996
Towards Wholeness, Tromblay Gallery, Kalamazoo, Michigan
1996
Out to Lunch, Center Art Gallery, Calvin College, Michigan
Competitions
1996
Calvin Alumni Artist Competition, Center Art Center, Calvin College
1994
Michigan Artist Competition, Art Center of Battle Creek, Battle Creek, Michigan
1994
Botanical Images �94, Lansing Art Gallery Lansing, Michigan
1994
Calvin Alumni Artist Competition Center Art Gallery, Calvin College, Grand Rapids Michigan
1992
Michigan Artist Competition Art Center of Battle Creek, Battle Creek, Michigan
Honors/Awards
1991
Pat Verduin Scholarship for Art
Selected Collections
Johnson Controls, Holland, Michigan
Martin Reformed Church, Mural, Martin, Michigan
Steve and Valerie Spoelhof, Holland, Michigan and St. Charles, Illinois
Private Collections
Heidelberg, Germany
Kent, Pennsylvania
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Holland, Michigan
Martin, Michigan
Zeeland, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
